Michigan

The dangers of the quick-on-the-draw marketer

One of the negatives of social media is that it's a driving force into this need for the instant. This need for the instant is infiltrating into not only our everyday lives, but aspects of businesses, such as marketing.

Look at marketing like a runner would look at a marathon—you don't just hop into it. It takes planning and strategy. When it finally does come time for the race, you don't go out sprinting either. You have to understand your abilities and pace yourself accordingly. This isn't a 100-meter all-out sprint, but rather a grueling and strategic 26.2-mile effort.

There have been multiple incidents were brands have jumped into marketing efforts perhaps too abruptly, which later caused a public relations firestorm. Like American Apparel, who last year sent out an email blast offering 20% off with the coupon code, "SANDYSALE". The deal was for the states being affected by Hurricane Sandy and the email said the sale was for those "bored during the storm". Obviously, it attracted negative attention, as the company was using a tragedy to help market itself.

Most recently, McDonald's found itself with a mixed response over a tweet about reaching out to Charles Ramsey, the man who help freed the Ohio kidnap victims a few days ago. In a lot of interviews after the incident, Ramsey mentioned how he was just eating his McDonald's before the events unfolded. The tweet from McDonald's mentioned they would be "in touch" with Ramsey. A USA Today article is quoting many public relations gurus about how the tweet is "news-jacking" and they are trying to use a situation to promote their brand. While some applaud McDonald's in this case, there are many detractors out there as well.

To avoid problems like this and find successful and effective marketing campaigns, a business can't just plop someone in front of a computer and expect (beneficial) results. It takes planning and strategy. The good news, as the Comcast Business Library article, Avoid "Ready, Fire, Aim!", points out, is that there are numerous ways to do pre-marketing research to define your target audience for free.

For example, you can step away from the computer. In case you forgot, you can learn and find things offline and in a library. You can avoid fees to paid databases and hit a library that offers free access to the same or similar databases.

You can also look to your larger competitors. Many companies with large marketing budgets conduct their own research and go on to publish it through white papers. While everything they find they may not publish, their white papers can serve as a great starting point for your business.

Understanding your target audience and having well planned-out marketing strategies will help avoid any snafus, controversy, and worse of all, failure. Not everything needs to be instant.